


Pride and Prejudice - The Overly Simplified Version

by ToyaPandora



Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:01:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29595252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToyaPandora/pseuds/ToyaPandora
Summary: An easier version to read, of Jane Austen's original novel.
Relationships: Elizabeth Bennet/Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane Bennet/Charles Bingley, Lydia Bennet/George Wickham, Mr. Bennet/Mrs. Bennet (Pride and Prejudice)
Comments: 2





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

All families believe this, and so when a man comes into the neighbourhood, they try and pair him with their daughters, even if he doesn’t want this.

“Mr. Bennet,” said his wife, “did you hear that Netherfield Park has been bought?”

Mr. Bennet said he hadn’t.

“It has” she replied, “Mrs. Long just told me about it.”

Mr. Bennet said nothing.

“Mrs. Long says that Netherfield was brought by a young man, with a large fortune, from the north of England. He came on Monday to see it, and liked it so much he agreed to buy it. He’s going to move in by Christmas and his servants will be here by the end of next week.”

“What’s his name?”

“Bingley.”

“Is he married or single?”

“He is a single man with a large fortune; £4000 or £5000 a year. How lucky are our girls?”

“How? How will it affect them?”

“Mr. Bennet,” replied his wife, “you tire me out! You must know that I want him to marry one of them; so you must visit him when he comes.”

“I have no intention of doing that.”

“But consider your daughters. How good it would be for one of them. Sir William and Lady Lucas are going for their daughters, despite not meeting newcomers. You must go, it will be impossible for us to visit him if you don’t.”

“Mr. Bingley will be very glad to see you; and I will send a letter with you, giving him consent to marry one of them, especially Lizzy.”

“Please don’t. Lizzy isn’t better than the others. She’s not a pretty as Jane or as good-humoured as Lydia. But you always prefer her.”

“They’re all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy has more wit than her sisters.”

“Mr. Bennet, you do like to irritate me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves.”

“You’re mistaken. I have a high respect for them. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them the last 20 years.”

“You don’t know what I suffer.”

“But I hope you will get over it, and see many young men with large fortunes come to the village.”

“It won’t matter if twenty come, since you won’t visit them.”

“When twenty come, I will visit them all.”


	2. Chapter 2

Mr. Bennet was one of the first people to visit Mr. Bingley. He kept this a secret until the evening and speaking to Lizzy said:

“I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy.”

“We may never know what Mr. Bingley likes,” said her mother resentfully, “since we won’t meet him.”

Mrs. Bennet began scolding one of her daughters.

“Don’t keep coughing, Kitty! You are agitating my nerves.”

“I don’t cough for my own amusement,” replied Kitty fretfully. “When’s the ball, Lizzy?”

“A fortnight tomorrow.”

“Let’s talk more about Mr. Bingley,” said Mr. Bennet.

“I am sick of Mr. Bingley,” cried his wife.

“I am sorry to hear that; why didn’t you tell me before? If I had known that this morning I wouldn’t have visited him. It is very unlucky; but since I have visited him, we cannot avoid him now.”

The surprise from the ladies was just what he wanted; Mrs. Bennet being the most shocked.

“How good of you, Mr. Bennet! I knew I would persuade you at last. How pleased I am! It was a good joke too, keeping it a secret until now.”

“Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you want,” said Mr. Bennet.

The rest of the evening was spent imagining how soon Mr. Bingley would visit, and determining when they should ask him to dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

Despite asking in all possible ways, Mr. Bennet wouldn’t give a description of Mr. Bingley. They had to ask their neighbour Lady Lucas instead. She said he was quite young, handsome, pleasant and even better, going to be at the ball with lots of people.

“If I can see one of my daughters happily living at Netherfield,” said Mrs. Bennet to her husband, “and the others equally married, I won’t need anything else.”

In a few days Mr. Bingley came to visit. He sat for about ten minutes with Mr. Bennet in his library. He wanted to see the girls, as he heard they were beautiful but only saw their dad. The girls got to see that he rode a black horse and wore a blue coat.

Mr. Bingley was soon invited to dinner. He cancelled however so he could go to London. The girls and Mrs. Bennet were upset until they learned he went to fetch people for the ball. When he arrived at the ball he brought 2 men and 2 women with him. The ladies were his sisters, the eldest was married to one of the gentlemen. The other man was his closest friend.

Mr. Bingley was good-looking and had pleasant manners. His sisters were fashionable women. Mr. Hurst only looked like a gentleman. The other man, Mr. Darcy caught everyone’s attention. They were discussing how he has 10 thousand a year. He was everyone’s favourite until half way through the evening. At this point everyone thought we was stuck-up and rude. Mr. Bingley soon became the favourite again. Mr. Bingley talked to everyone in the room. He was lively and danced every dance, promising to give a ball at Netherfield. The person who disliked Mr. Darcy the most was Mrs. Bennet as he had insulted one of her daughters.

Elizabeth Bennet was sitting down for a bit and Mr. Darcy had been standing close enough for her to overhear his conversation. 

“Come on, Darcy,” said Mr. Bingley, “You should dance. I hate to see you standing by yourself.”

“I will not. You know I hate dancing unless I know my partner. Your sisters are dancing so there is no-one to dance with.”

“There are many pleasant and pretty girls to dance with!”

“You are dancing with the only attractive one,” he said looking at Jane Bennet.

“Oh! She is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen! But one of her sisters is sitting behind you, who is very pretty also.”

“Who do you mean?” he asked, looking behind him and spotting Elizabeth, “She’s tolerable but not pretty enough to make me dance, stop wasting time with me.”

Mr. Bingley followed his advice and Mr. Darcy walked away. Elizabeth told her friends what had happened, laughing about it.

The evening ended with the family in good spirts. Mrs. Bennet was especially happy as Mr. Bingley had danced with Jane twice.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Since meeting up with Bingley’s sisters since the ball and finding them unpleasant, Elizabeth was glad she was the only one who knew Jane liked Bingley. This was because Jane was quite shy and guarded. She talked about this with her best friend Charlotte Lucas at a gathering:

“Although hiding your feelings from some people can be useful,” replied Charlotte, “it can also be a disadvantage. If Jane hides her feelings from Bingley, she may not win his love. A woman needs to show more than what she feels if she wants the man. Bingley likes your sister but may not love her if she doesn’t help him.”

“She is showing her feelings as much as she can, if Bingley doesn’t see it, he is an idiot.”

“But Bingley doesn’t know Jane as well as you.”

“You make me laugh, Charlotte; but it’s not right. You won’t do that yourself.” 

Meanwhile, Mr. Darcy was trying to come to terms with his feelings for Elizabeth. At first she was barely pretty, had hardly any good features. Then he noticed that the expression in her eyes, made her quite beautiful. Even her manners, although not as good as his, were fun and pleasing. He therefore found himself joining her conversation.

“What does Mr. Darcy want?” Elizabeth asked Charlotte, “why was he listening to my conversation with Colonel Forster?”

“Only he can answer that.”

“If he does it again, I will ask him.”

Mr. Darcy joined them once again and still refused to speak so Elizabeth asked him:

“Don’t you think I teased him well, asking Colonel Forster to give a ball?”

“Yes but I find talks of balls often make women energetic.”

“You are severe on us.”

“Soon Elizabeth will be teased,” said Miss Lucas, “I am going to open the piano, and ask her to play.”

“What a funny friend you are, wanting me to sing and dance in front of everybody.”

Elizabeth gave a fun performance however she was no musician. After two songs, Mary took over, as she much preferred playing and was much better at it. Despite this it wasn’t as fun and people preferred Elizabeth’s playing. She was however asked to play songs, by her younger sisters and the other children, that they could dance to.

Yet again, Mr. Darcy didn’t want dance and was joined instead by Sir William Lucas:

“What a great past time for young people dancing is, Mr. Darcy. Your friend dances very well and I bet you can as well.”

“You saw me dance at Meryton, I believe, sir.”

“Yes and I enjoyed it very much. You have a house in London, I presume?”

Mr. Darcy bowed.

“I wanted to buy a house in London but I thought the air wouldn’t be good for my wife.”

He waited for an answer but Mr. Darcy remained silent. Sir William then spotted Elizabeth walking by and had an idea:

“Miss Eliza, why aren’t you dancing? Mr. Darcy, let me introduce you to a very desirable dancing partner. You cannot refuse to dance with such a beautiful lady,” he said, taking her hand and trying to give it to Mr. Darcy when she took it back.

“Sorry Sir, I have no intention of dancing, I didn’t come here looking for a partner.”

Darcy asked for her hand but neither him or Sir William could change her mind and she walked away.

Mr. Darcy was then greeted by Miss Bingley:

“I bet I know what you’re thinking of.”

“I doubt it.”

“You are wondering how horrid it would be to spend many evenings like this, with these countryside people and their harsh manners.”

“You are wrong. I have happier thoughts. I am thinking about how much pleasure beautiful eyes in a pretty face can give.”

Miss Bingley immediately looked at his face and asked who he was thinking of.

“Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”

“Miss Elizabeth Bennet!” repeated Miss Bingley. “I am surprised. How long has she been a favourite? And when will you get married?”

“I expected you to ask that. A lady’s mind jumps quickly from admiration to love and from love to marriage.”

“No, if you are serious, then it is settled. You will have a delightful mother-in-law who will always be at Pemberley with you.”

Darcy listened to her with indifference so Miss Bingley continued to tease him the rest of the evening.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Mr. Bennet earns almost 2 thousand a year but when he dies, his daughter will not inherit it. Instead it will go to his closest living male family member. Their mother’s fortune would not be enough to support them. She has a sister, married to Mr. Phillips who both live in Meryton, a small village one mile away from Longbourn, where the Bennet’s live. As there is not much to do in the countryside, the youngest two girls (Catherine and Lydia) often travel daily to visit their aunt. While she often has no news to tell them, recently a military regiment has made base in Meryton for the winter.

The girls have learned everything about the officers they could and talk of little else, forgetting all about Mr. Bingley. After listening to them talk one morning, Mr. Bennet coldly observed:

“From what I can gather, you two must be the silliest girls in the country. I had suspected it, but now I am convinced.”

Catherine made no answer; but Lydia, with perfect indifference, continued to talk about Captain Carter and that she hoped to see him later.

“I am surprised,” said Mrs. Bennet, “you would say that about your own children.”

“If my children are silly, I want to be aware of it.”

“Yes, but as it happens, they are all very clever.”

“This is the only thing we disagree on, our two youngest daughters are incredibly foolish.”

“When they get to our age, they will think differently. I remember when I liked to talk about officers, in fact sometimes I still do. If a smart, young colonel who makes £5000 or £6000 a year wants to marry one of the girls, I wouldn’t say no.”

Just then a letter arrived for Miss Jane Bennet:

“My dear friend,

Please dine with Louisa and me. My brother and the other gentlemen are dining with the officers and so I am alone with my sister. If let alone, we will probably end up fighting,

Yours ever,

Caroline Bingley.”

“Can I have the carriage?” said Jane.

“No, go on horseback, because it looks like it’s going to rain; and then you will have to stay there,” answered Mrs. Bennet.

“I had much rather go in the carriage.”

“The horses are needed in the farm and cannot be spared.”

Jane was made to go on horseback, and her mother was right about the rain. It continued the entire evening and Jane could not come back.

The next morning, a letter came for Elizabeth from Jane:

“My dearest Lizzy,

I am unwell, probably because I travelled through the rain yesterday. My friends will not let me return until I feel better and they want me to see Dr. Jones. I only have a sore throat and a headache so don’t worry,

Yours, Jane.”

“Well if Jane dies,” said Mr. Bennet to his wife, “I will be comforted to know it was under your orders and to try and marry Mr. Bingley.”

Elizabeth, despite Jane’s letter, was worried and wanted to go see her. She could not take the carriage and cannot ride a horse very well, so she walked. This was despite her mother not wanting her to be seen in all the mud she was bound to walk through.

When she entered Netherfield, she met everyone but Jane. The ladies were very surprised that she walked, in dirty weather and alone. Mr. Darcy thought the exercise improved her complexion. Despite this, they were all polite and she was taken to Jane. Jane could not talk very much but was glad Elizabeth was there. Jane continued to get worse but eventually Elizabeth voiced that she had to go home. Jane begged her not to and so the ladies (who had come to visit Jane) let Elizabeth stay the night.


End file.
